The Lesson's Lesson
I started to make short-form content about a month ago. My plan was to talk about marketing and the challenges of doing business in Germany. The goal was simple: to make myself, and WestWord, more visible. (One of the great ironies of WestWord, a marketing company, is that until recently we did almost no marketing.)
One month in, and my plan hasn’t changed much. But the way my message is being delivered has changed dramatically.
I learned quickly that nobody cares about my view on marketing and business. But many people seem to care about my view on how Germans and Americans approach marketing and business differently. It's the difference between 12 followers during weeks one and two and 1,800 in weeks three and four.
Take my video on negotiating. It has been particularly well received in terms of reach and engagement. It's the story of how I used American negotiating techniques in a German context, and how it backfired. The audience has been largely German, and largely in agreement with my conclusion: that the American approach to negotiation is annoying to Germans and will damage trust if used in Germany.
But the subtext of the conversation that my video seems to have sparked isn't, That's interesting. I hadn't thought about it that way. Rather it's, This is why you can't trust Americans.
The lesson is that Americans and Germans negotiate differently. The lesson's lesson is something I didn't intend.
Cognitive Bias
There is a name for what’s happening here: motivated reasoning. The psychologist Ziva Kunda described it in 1990. Motivated reasoning is like having a little traffic cop in our brains. When we learn something new, that cop stops the traffic that challenges what we believe while waving through evidence that confirms what we already believe.
Like it or not, Europeans have a lot of reasons to be skeptical about Americans right now–whether that’s because of global politics, trade, or the influence of American tech–and for some, my videos seem to be a supporting argument.
Motivated reasoning is especially troubling in cases of cognitive dissonance. When you're presenting two opposed ideas that are both true — like that Americans negotiate in a certain way based on a specific cultural framework, and that the behavior associated with that framework causes distrust in the German cultural framework — it takes effort to make sense of things.
Being able to sit with that duality is what being open-minded is all about. Being able to swipe away from that feeling without sitting with it is what makes social media what it is today: a place of high emotion and low empathy.
It's also what makes writing so hard. The story keeps telling you what it's about. You may not always like the answer.
I just hope that I'm getting through to more people than I'm providing ammunition to. I'm not sure hope is a strategy.
News from the WestWord Office
Did I mention that we have done almost no marketing so far? It’s true. One of the big changes to how we are operating as a small marketing shop is that we have a new division of labor here behind the scenes. Tommy (my Frankfurt-based partner) has taken the lead on Ops while I focus on Marketing and New Business.
There are not a lot of things I would do differently if I could go back in time and restart WestWord, but dividing up our duties like this is probably one of them. Having one partner focused on ops while the other is focused on growth is not only logical, it seems to be the standard. We’re late to the party.
Speaking of starting businesses, if you’re thinking of starting a business in Germany, I made a handy guide that I hope will help. You can check it out here. I hope it’s helpful. Feel free to share it with friends/business partners.
Brian Blickenstaff is Clickin’ Stuff
A nice bit of magazine-style journalism: I loved this story about figuring out the identity of the famous (and famously anonymous) British street artist, Banksy.
A show: My wife and I have enjoyed the first couple episodes of HBO’s Rooster, starring Steve Carell of The Office fame. It’s a comedy about American professors, and walks a fine line between absurdity (of the institution) and truth (about the human spirit) that makes for a fun watch.
An album: Despite being a massive fan of Paul Simon in his days as a solo artist, I am not sure I have ever listened to Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, the Simon and Garfunkel album, all the way through. Until recently, that is. I put on The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) during breakfast the other day, and it quickly became my 4 year old’s favorite jam. We take her to kindergarten singing Feeling Groovy, and I come home and finish the album. Paul Simon was 25 when it came out. Amazing.
Looking towards the future
I'll see you in two weeks if not sooner.
Thanks for subscribing.
-Brian